Luisa Schneider

After completing my Master’s degree in African Studies at the Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW) at Humboldt University in Berlin in 2021, I embarked on a PhD journey that has brought me to the Africa Multiple Cluster and BIGSAS (Bayreuth Graduate School of African Studies) at the University of Bayreuth. My research delves into the dynamic interplay of historical knowledge production, management, and mediation, with a particular focus on Liberia, a nation whose past and present are deeply entangled in transnational, pan-African, and postcolonial narratives.

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Liberia, as a state born out of the transatlantic movements of freedom and colonization—a nation founded by Black Transatlantic Migrants in 1847—became both a beacon of Pan-African unity and a site of Black Liberation.

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My research seeks to unravel how Liberia’s transatlantic, yet transnational, past is remembered, contested, and mediated in the present, particularly through its heritagescape (Garden, 2007)—the physical and symbolic spaces where history and identity converge.

At the heart of my inquiry are questions that resonate far beyond academia: Who gets to tell Liberia’s story? How do heritage sites and national holidays serve as “living testimonies” to the past, and what do they reveal about the politics of memory?

 

I examine iconic landmarks such as the Ducor Hotel (1964), the first 5-star hotel in West Africa; Hotel Africa, a once-glittering symbol of Pan-African diplomacy and continental unity; and Providence Island, cherished as the birthplace of Liberian independence and a flagship for pushing the tourism industry. These sites are not just relics of the past but active participants in shaping Liberia’s present and future.

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My work is grounded in theoretical frameworks such as multidirectional memory (Rothberg, 2009), which highlights how memories of different histories intersect and influence one another, and transnational histories, which challenge the boundaries of the nation-state. I also draw on critical heritage studies (Smith, 2006) to explore how these sites mediate identity and belonging. Who visits these places? Who curates them? And what stories do they tell—or silence?

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As Liberia’s heritagescape has evolved over time, reflecting the nation’s tumultuous 20th-century journey from autocratic rule and Cold War-era military governance to democratic transition, a 13-year-long civil war, and post-conflict reconstruction. Through a multimedia approach, I trace how these shifts are embedded in the material and visual culture of heritage sites, from the grandeur of the Ducor Hotel to the ruins left by civil war and post-conflict looting.​​

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How are these sites and their histories represented on national TV, in tourism materials, and in digital media, among others? Answers to such questions capture the vibrant, often contradictory ways in which different actors—such as the government, tourism entrepreneurs, international visitors, and especially citizens—relate to the past in the present.

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